With Kenny Payne being a prime candidate for the opening at Mississippi State, it seems like it is cool to name a Calipari assistant as a possible replacement for a head coach.
Now it is Rod Strickland’s turn.
The Dallas SBNation site thinks Strickland could give SMU some credibility but with some risk.
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Helvetica][I]As it stands now, the Mustangs have a Division III player running the point, a mis-used Top 100 recruit and a few other pieces that might qualify as Division I talent. At a certain point, talent is the name of the game in college basketball and SMU needs someone who can recruit local products like Le’Bryan Nash and [URL=”http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/123221/perry-jones-iii”]Perry Jones III[/URL], someone who can get the support of both the Highland Park boosters and the DISD coaches. Someone like Rod Strickland.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
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The ex-NBA star is working in an administrative role with Kentucky for John Calipari (read: recruiting). Strickland’s career would command the respect of recruits and give SMU instant credibility. If he follows his mentor’s model of building a program, he could turn SMU into Dallas’ Memphis — a hometown team built up on local prospects. Beyond that, he’s a hire that could get the boosters excited, especially with the team moving into the Big East.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
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Unfortunately, he also has 4 DUI’s and no head coaching experience. While his track record as a player indicates he knows the game inside and out, it’s an easy thing for Steve Orsini to point to as a reason for not hiring him should the boosters object to his penchant for going hard in the car. The boosters could overlook the DUIs easily in the name of winning … if the most recent one wasn’t less than two years ago.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
[URL=”http://dallas.sbnation.com/2012/3/20/2886562/smu-basketball-coaching-search-matt-doherty”]Read Entire Article[/URL]
The Strickland stuff is mainly conjecture at this point, but keep an eye on KP to MSU…hearing a lot of noise about that one.
